A lot of Africa themed party organisers in The Netherlands will kill to have the kind of large crowd we attract at the Africa Night. The reasoning goes like this; the more visitors, the more excitement. More people equal more money. But this is a kind of slippery slope reasoning with foundations built on thin air. Africa Night operates with a couple of true lovers. It has always been a labour of love and was never based on financial gains. In the more than 11 years of Africa Night, the gate fee has been virtually unchanged. This is because as long as we are able to cover our costs, we are happy to keep the gate fee the same. Africa Night is happily not our source of income. If Africa Night stops tomorrow, we will not miss a cent at the end of the month. It is as simple as that.
The Africa Nights that have been the most satisfying are those that attracted a manageable number of visitors who came with the sole purpose of having fun. If our guests have fun, we have fun too because it gives us a satisfying feeling of fulfilment. 150 fun and music loving people are always better than 300 fee paying onlookers. Money is and never will be an issue at Africa Night. The more people present at a given Africa Night, the more we the organisers have to work to make sure the evening passes without any irritating incidents. The times when some guests have behaved badly are the times when attendances have been over the top. This was the case at the November edition of Africa Night.
While some of the visitors were elated because of the large crowd during this edition, we knew we had to hold our breath. Or worst fear became reality just before the night was due to be over. Some guy who had one glass too much to drink got into some kind of trouble with a group. Happily, it was just at the end of the night and we were able to usher the guys outside. But once outside, all hell broke loose. One could just watch and hope that the worst would not happen to the guy who provoked the pandemonium. In the event, the whole thing took a comical look once sanity was restored. There was this guy, heavily battered, shirtless, and missing his right shoe, but still shouting that he was ‘the man’ long after everyone was gone. we just wonder how he got home on that cold and wet morning.
Reading the above you would think the “fight club” was the only important thing that happened last Saturday. Nothing is further than the truth. The night was by far the busiest of the year and we continued to be amazed by first time clients (nowadays the majority) who think they are the only ones from afar. Take the example of the guy who came to us to declare that he thinks he is the only one outside Tilburg who was there on the night. He came from Utrecht about 80 km away. So we showed him round to guests who were from Deventer, 130 km away; Zwolle, 150 km away; Groningen, 270 km away; Antwerp Belgium, 75 km away; Hamburg Germany 490 km away; Nantes, France 630 km away. We think he got the gist!
As we approach the end of another eventful Africa Night year, we have to say whatever happens; Africa Night will definitely take a new direction next year. We are currently exploring various possibilities of building on the success of the past eleven and half years. Watch this space. There are lots of exciting things in the pipeline!
Discover the joy of African music & dance!
